Genuine Opinions Wanted, are my photos good enough?

b3nko

b3nko

Messages
123
Name
Adam
Edit My Images
No
Hey All,

I am in need of your opinions!

I am currently in the process of setting up a Smugmug web page. If you are not familiar with this site, basically it is a website which displays your photos on your own page like a flickr site but people can purchase prints of your photos making you a little money for your efforts.

I would like peoples honest opinions on my photos, and what I have come up with so far on my Smugmug page.

Please be honest, if you think the images are good enough for people to spend their hard earned money on then I may look at paying a full subscription on the site.

If you feel they are not quite up to scratch, I would like to hear that, and save my own hard earned cash and not waste it paying the subscription fees.

All opinions welcome, from novices to Professional. Anyone who takes the time to offer me their opinion, I thank you very much in advance! :)

Please click not the link to have a look:

http://benko.smugmug.com

Thanks,

Adam
 
Last edited:
Some nice images there Adam, but in response to your question, I can't say that I'd buy any. The subjects have no personal connection to me and although we do have images hanging on our walls, they're just the cheap generic ones from various high street stores.

I'm sure people do sell subjects like those though so I'm not saying don't bother, just from my point of view, I wouldn't expect them to sell to the masses.
 
There's some nice images there, but none really wow me. Some are variations of the same thing, so I'd recommend just displaying the best one. I'd also have some text saying what they are and where (if it's there, apologies for missing it, but I couldn't see anything viewing on my ipad). I think you may need to narrow the galleries down further, people who are looking for images to buy will likely search by a location or subject matter, and something as generic as 'landscape photography' will leave you so far down the searches as to not even register I'd have thought.

Image sales are a funny one, I've sold images off my website that are fairly average images, while others that have thousands of views have never sold a thing. Same with my stuff on alamy.
 
Sorry to say but there is nothing in there I'd buy :( there are also some in there with some quite fundamental errors such as most of the Hong Kong ones ( I think it's HK ) are in need of levelling and again in the landscapes section that last one of the little church was that taken from inside a car? As there is a odd reflection in sky at first I though it was a contrail but it isn't
 
I quite like a few of the mountain shots, others are good but like people say, not something that I would feel the need to buy.

Its no reflection on the images but everyone has their own taste for wall art, I love scenery like landscapes etc.
 
I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment really, as I never sell my photos, nor buy any, but….

I have had some experience of Smugmug for a project I was involved in - in my case it was purely to display the photos. It was fairly cheap to do this (a couple of years ago now). Is it more expensive if you are selling via Smugmug? I have thought about trying this myself ;)

The photos are very nicely displayed (though perhaps large enough that people could lift them easily?) and you do have some lovely photos. I can see some might be saleable if the right person looks. I agree with Andy that it's probably best just to put your best one of a set on.

I'm guessing you might be on a free 30 day trial? If the commitment is less than a year and it's not too expensive, why not stick with it? I guess you'd have to think about how you market them though :shrug:
 
Hi Adam,

Some nice shots but to be completely honest there's nothing that really grabbed my attention... this doesn't mean to say they won't sell however as it's impossible to tell, people have varying tastes and what doesn't grab one person may well another.

One of the main difficulties in selling is actually getting people to visit your site, there's millions of photography sites out there now that probably get little to no traffic as it's not just a case of setting up a site, lots of time an effort is needed to drive traffic there even to give you half a chance of selling anything.. creating a site is by far the easiest bit

Simon
 
What's going to bring people to your photos rather than the literally millions of similar subjects? They're fairly generic.
There's nothing terribly wrong with your skills as far as I can see but to sell pictures like that you're going to need to undertake some herculean marketing. The alternative is to shoot unusual subjects so the competition will be far more weak, or to shoot unusual interpretations of familiar subjects, for the same reason.

The market for subjects like yours was saturated long, long ago.
 
Thank you all very VERY much for taking the time to help me out here! I was not expecting so many people to reply! :) All your opinions have cleared up some doubts which I guess I already had.

As I photographer, I have little over 1 years experience, No qualifications in the subject, just purely self taught. So all the advice people have offered here is truly appreciated and i will be taking it ALL on board. From looking to Market my site, to trying new subjects going against the norm.

I may use just use Smugmug to display my images for now, and maybe when i build up a larger portfolio of images including some which people may consider to be different to the usual subjects then I may look to upgrade.

So Thank you ALL again very much!

Adam
 
b3nko said:
Thank you all very VERY much for taking the time to help me out here! I was not expecting so many people to reply! :) All your opinions have cleared up some doubts which I guess I already had.

As I photographer, I have little over 1 years experience, No qualifications in the subject, just purely self taught. So all the advice people have offered here is truly appreciated and i will be taking it ALL on board. From looking to Market my site, to trying new subjects going against the norm.

I may use just use Smugmug to display my images for now, and maybe when i build up a larger portfolio of images including some which people may consider to be different to the usual subjects then I may look to upgrade.

So Thank you ALL again very much!

Adam
Click to expand...

Don't be disheartened, to be honest the best thing you can do is post your photos on here for critique you'll soon get used to finding/spotting issues when shooting and when editing, your photos aren't bad (y) they just need more work if that makes sense...and some of them need a little more thought to composition and execution
 
I quite like your photos, especially the sea lion one! I think it would look nice at a beach house or a bathroom x
 
Walk before you run. Focus on getting better and improving your photography rather than dashing in trying to monetise your hobby. My advice would be to set up a proper website to showcase your best photographs, with some supporting information that tells the viewer about the photograph and yourself. Perhaps make it more specific than travel and landscape and nature and sunsets, and promote it accordingly. Then, link the smugmug website from your main website for anyone who is interested in buying.
 
Hi Adam, all good advice above and I would just like to add a suggestion.

You could try posting your images on 500px, it's free to host your images and there is the option of selling them, downloads and prints.

It would give you some idea as to what appeals to buyers, it may give you a steer on what works in the market without committing to any kind of subscription.
 
The site is welcoming - clean, simple. The images are displayed quite large so there are obvious questions to be asked about how fast the page loads up, especially on mobile devices.

There are some nice images - I think asking photographers about the quality of an image is often fraut with issues.... none more§ so than photographers can be overly critical and don't always think like the general punter you're aiming to sell to.

I'd avoid duplicates of the same (or similar) images.... the sea lion shots are very similar, as are a few of the landscapes. Having images that looks the same or similar shows an uncertainty in your image selection, plus it can be confusing to the viewer because you think you're looking at the same image.
 
As with any Art, photography is subjective, what one person likes, others hate etc.

And to be honest photographers can be the worst people to ask as they are usually the least likely to buy someone elses work, thinking why should I pay for something to hang on the lounge wall when I could take something better myself.

The proof of the pudding will be if people actually buy your work through your site.

Surely you must have some idea of what people think about your work through feedback from friends etc.


And as with any business venture its a gamble, there is always an element of speculation before accumulation SO if you pay for a years subscription and sell nothing you've lost a years subscription and you then know your work does not have commercial appeal.

If on the other hand you have an image that proves popular then the cost of the subscription will be soon forgotten about.

Do you value your work enough to risk a years subscription money ??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top